


How to Shoot Somebody Who Outdrew You

by ssa_archivist



Category: Smallville
Genre: Drama, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-07-16
Updated: 2005-07-16
Packaged: 2017-11-01 12:14:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/356648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ssa_archivist/pseuds/ssa_archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fourteen other ways of looking at the second half of season 3.</p>
            </blockquote>





	How to Shoot Somebody Who Outdrew You

## How to Shoot Somebody Who Outdrew You

by Suture

[]()

* * *

How To Shoot Somebody Who Outdrew You 

  1. Asylum 



Lex can smile and smile and be a villain as well. 

During the day, he thanks Clark, who visits too much bearing gifts: food, guilt and sun-warm skin. "Im glad youre okay," Clark says. 

"I am," Lex promises. 

During the day, Lex nods, the dutiful son, and lets Lionel say with a knife-sharp smile, "Dont push yourself, Lex. Luthorcorp will always be there." 

At night, Lex sits in front of grainy images and faulty sound. Onscreen, his hands against Clarks face are tender, desperate, obvious as a kiss. Lex remembers what he says if not why. 

"I know your secret." 

* * *

2\. Whisper 

Ten steps into the barn and Clark. Chloe stops. She cant. 

"What did you want to see me about?" Clark asks. Hes standing right below his loft. 

She had an apology rehearsed--I want too much. I got mad. Im not a good enough person. Instead, she says, "I need to get him." She doesnt have to explain who shes talking about. 

The afternoon sun edges Clarks profile in fire. "There have to be other people who know what Lionel Luthor did to his parents," he says. "You cant cover up something that wrong forever." 

She walks into the barn. 

* * *

3\. Delete 

These are just some of the ways he can take his father down: artfully arranged indiscretions, a steady stream of leaks to the press, unforeseen bouts of incompetence, sowing the seeds of discontent (Reynolds, who had his fathers ear six months ago, is no longer in favor), a questionable experiment brought to light (surely Level Three was not an anomaly), irregularities in Luthorcorps accounting suddenly and shockingly unveiled, a virtually undetectable change in Lionels prescription, a mysterious illness, an agreement with some shadowy figure in Lionels past. 

Lex reins in his thoughts. He wants this to be a bloodless coup. 

* * *

4\. Hereafter 

The house is too quiet tonight, and Jonathan asleep is too still for her comfort, so Martha watches Clark sleep and thinks about the eight year old who used to wake up confused but cranky enough to say, "Im not a baby. You dont have to check up on me." She can find traces of that boy in the almost-man in front of her, but the hard line of Clarks jaw and the way he frowns with his eyes closed transform him, like alchemy, into an adult. 

Change is in the air, sharp as frost. Martha hopes shell be ready. 

* * *

5\. Velocity 

Clark couldnt say it before since friends dont let friends drive like that, but he knows why Pete races. Late at night, the world is flat fields and a low hum. He can go so fast hes weightless. Clark can leave it all behind: the nursery thats just an empty room now, the flutter in Dads heartbeat, Moms soft sobs when she thinks everyones asleep, the way Chloe doesnt look him in the eye anymore, Lex in the barn tonight trying for understanding but sounding like hes defeated. Clark runs. When he stops, the world settles hard on him again. 

* * *

6\. Obsession 

This is what you will remember about Lex, this moment, this second. Salt-thick taste on your tongue, the rustle of sheets, hard bone, hard muscle, smooth skin. Those halfbreaths he takes, dirty and right, just like those Latin poems he recites but never translates. You store it all up because this wont last. Everyday, you lose something else you can talk about: cars, electricity, the stars. You have to be ready when the time comes. Because in the end, Lex will leave and youll be gutted, torn apart, just like the Porsche Lex was driving the first time you met. 

* * *

Lex tries not to traffic in metaphors and similes when Clark is spread out under him. Endless blazons spring to mind--Clark flushed is like dew and roses, his chest is broad and golden like the Kansas plains, his mouth is hot like the suns fiery furnace, his hands can span worlds-- but such comparisons are dangerous. They point out just how singular Clark is. How unique. 

(Otherworldly.) 

Lex can feel it more everyday, memories and knowledge muscling their way back so that his minds detritus makes sense again. A shard of glass. Poisonous green beads. 

("I know your secret.") 

* * *

7\. Resurrection 

Lionel watches Adam Knight respond to the serum. Adams jaundiced skin shades back into flesh tones. His eyes dart back and forth under his closed lids like hes dreaming. 

Every king rules on borrowed time. Power accrued always becomes power dispersed. A folder sits in Lionels office with a doctors final decree, "Cancer of the liver. Terminal." But, Lionel refuses to accept his fate. 

His time has not yet come. He will raze his bodys renegade cells. Adam Knights limbs shudder with new life, and Lionel finds his solace. He will rage and rage against the dying of the light. 

* * *

8\. Crisis 

It hurts like hell to breathe, but Jonathan fights for one more breath. Clark hovers over him, eyes huge, hands careful. "Dad," he says. "We--," 

Clark could get them to a hospital like that, but Jonathan knows its too late. He shakes his head. 

"But Dad--," Clark says. Hes crying now, tears falling onto the yards hard dirt. 

Far off, Jonathan can smell spring rain, the seasons first. "Proud of you, son," Jonathan says. He cant feel his hands anymore. 

"Dont, Dad. Please," Clark says. 

"Youll do good," Jonathan says. "I know. Because you are." 

His eyes close. 

* * *

9\. Legacy 

"Keeping late hours, arent we, Miss Sullivan? " Lionel Luthor asks as he steps into the Torch office. 

"Wait," Choe says. "Arent your entrances usually accompanied by the smell of sulfur and brimstone?" Shes always been more fight than flight. 

Lionel laughs, almost affectionate. "Ive been hearing some disturbing reports about you. Youre bothering my old friends." He picks up a picture, one of her and her dad. "I find the past is best left where it is. Buried. Good night, Miss Sullivan." 

She doesnt have any other choice. Her hands shake as she dials. "Lex? I need your help." 

* * *

10\. Truth 

\--one moment Edge is bearing down on you, and the next Clark is there, displacing air, displacing steel as he half-turns towards the hurtling car and makes the car bend around him like nothing youve ever seen and everything youve ever hoped. "I knew it all along. Youre not even human," you say, your way of praying-- 

\--the taste of leather in your mouth as your father tells you this is for your own good. You know itll happen because his will is always done, and the world explodes in light and pain 

You open your eyes. You remember. 

* * *

11\. Memoria 

Theyre meeting with Calvin Edge because of a tip-off from one of Chloes anonymous sources. Calvin Edge looks like a nervous, defeated version of his brother. 

"They were dead before the shop blew up," Calvin Edge says, eyes on Chloe. "Lionel Luthor told me to shoot them, and I did. 

Clark asks the next question. "Would you testify to that in court?" Edge staring at Chloe makes him nervous. Chloe shines too bright and talks too much here in Suicide Slums. 

Edge nods, hate in his eyes. "He killed my brother. I want to see the bastard pay." 

* * *

12\. Talisman 

Under Clarks hands, Lionel Luthor is just breakable bones. 

Even though hes dangling three feet above the ground, Lionel Luthor stays calm. "Impressive," he says. "But then again, you have many gifts, dont you, Clark?" 

"I dont know what youre talking about," Clark says. He sounds scared, guilty. 

Lionel Luthor smiles. "Ah, but Helen Bryce did. As does Lex. The things he said at Belle Reve." 

"What do you want?" Clark asks, but he already knows. 

The vial of blood gleams in the barn. "A meeting tomorrow at my office. Were going to do great things together," Lionel Luthor says. 

* * *

13\. Forsaken 

Later, Lex will tell himself fairy tales about friendship and sacrifice. Hell cast himself as the hero who protects the people he loves. In the minutes after he gets off the phone with his father though, Lex knows better. 

"Get rid of Edge," his father ordered. "Call off this witch-hunt, and Ill leave the boy alone." 

Lex isnt afraid for Clark (harsh lights and scalpels and screams.) Lex is afraid of Clark. Clark is a vulnerability. Hes blood in the water that any predator can scent, and Lionel knows that. 

Lex has to neutralize the threat. Containment isnt enough anymore. 

* * *

14\. Covenant 

Clark catches the first bullet, but he hesitates and misses the second. It finds its way home, and Lionel Luthor slumps over his gleaming executive desk. A smile snakes across his face as blood trickles from his mouth. Clark takes a step back. 

"Tell, Lex--," Lionel Luthor gasps. "Tell him, well done." 

Clark runs. 

* * *

The first phone call came in five minutes ago. Calvin Edge is dead. Lex reads a report, waiting for his second call. Pandemonium erupts outside, screams, sobs and running, just as the phone rings. "Its done, sir." 

"Thank you," Lex says. 


End file.
